Murrieta Man Pleads Guilt In Fentanyl Death, Sentenced To Prison

WILDOMAR, CA — A probationer pleaded guilty Thursday to furnishing a deadly dose of fentanyl to a 32-year-old Wildomar man and was immediately sentenced to 11 years in state prison.

Alexander Dimitrios Magos, 30, of Murrieta admitted one count of voluntary manslaughter under an agreement negotiated with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. In exchange for his admission, prosecutors dropped a murder charge against Magos.

The plea deal was announced just as the defendant's case was called for trial at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta Thursday. Superior Court Judge John Molloy certified the terms of the agreement and imposed the sentence stipulated by the prosecution and defense.

Magos was arrested in 2022 following an 18-monthlong sheriff's investigation into the death of Shane Carlin.

According to sheriff's Sgt. Ryan Marcuse, on the afternoon of May 6, 2021, deputies were summoned to the 23000 block of Peggy Lane, just east of Interstate 15, to investigate reports of an unconscious man in a residence.

Deputies and paramedics arrived within minutes and found Carlin "not breathing," Marcuse said.

The victim was taken to Inland Valley Medical Center in Wildomar, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Marcuse said an autopsy "determined Carlin was a victim of fentanyl poisoning."

The sheriff's Overdose Death & Narcotics Unit took over the investigation, eventually gathering sufficient evidence to identify Magos as the person "responsible for selling the fentanyl that killed Carlin," the sergeant said.

How the convicted felon and victim knew one another was not disclosed.

Magos was taken into custody without incident at his residence on Mountain Pride Drive on Oct. 27, 2022.

According to court records, he had prior convictions for possession of controlled substances for sale, smuggling controlled substances into jail and driving under the influence.

Since February 2021, county prosecutors have charged over 30 people in connection with fentanyl poisonings.

In November 2023, the D.A.'s office closed the books on the county's first fentanyl murder case to go before a jury, culminating in the conviction of 34-year-old Vicente David Romero, who was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the 2020 death of a Temecula woman.

Public health statistics indicated there were 328 known fentanyl- related fatalities countywide in 2024, compared to 571 in 2023, a 42% decline

Fentanyl is manufactured in overseas labs, principally in China, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which says the synthetic opioid is smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border by cartels.

Fentanyl is 80-100 times more potent than morphine and can be mixed into any number of street narcotics and prescription drugs, without a user knowing what he or she is consuming. Ingestion of only two milligrams can be fatal.